Swim team fills up Padovan for Family Weekend

Hang on for a minute...we're trying to find some more stories you might like.

Email This Story

Send email to this addressEnter Your NameAdd a comment hereVerification

There was a rather large crowd of parents at Padovon Pool on Saturday morning eager to show support to Eastern’s swim teams in their Blue vs. Grey exhibition meet.

The Blue team would ultimately come out on top as swimmers broke over ten Blue vs. Grey records on Saturday including Women’s 200-medley relay, Women’s 200- freestyle, Women’s 100-freestyle, Women’s 100-fly, Men’s 200-freestyle, Men’s 100-freestyle, Men’s 100-fly and more. One of the records that was broken was the Women’s 100-backstroke, which was both previously held by and broken by senior swimmer Lauren Oosman, who then broke it again.

Junior Gloria Gonzales has been swimming since she was 4-years old. Gloria mentioned striving to improve from previous seasons and the impact of the crowd at this past Saturday’s meet.

“It was good to see all the parents, and they were super supportive. We had really good energy. We had really fast swims, some people did really good,” Gonzales said.

Gonzales spoke about dedication and preparing for the season. She even mentioned that she was pushing past some asthma irritations in order to continue to compete.

“There were really close races in everything. We had some people who pulled ahead in both their individual events, but for the most part it was different people that won each event,” Gonzales said.

She went on to discuss some goals for the season both personally and for her team. Gonzales hopes that the both the men and women’s teams have winning records this season despite the additions made to the schedule.

“I’m excited, especially because I’m from Indianapolis and I’ve swam at the high school we are swimming at like a million times,” Gonzales said.

Jacqueline Michalski is entering her 5th season as the head swimming coach at Eastern. Michalski mentioned that this year has a different feel due to her active role in recruitment.

“This year I recruited each and every one of these athletes, so it’s a really special team for me this year,” Michalski said. “I’ve decided that I want them here, and they want to be here, so it’s a really good solid environment.”

Michalski went on to describe the feeling of the meet and the support the team received from parents during Family Weekend.

“Our Parents are really amazing parents, and they come and support us,” Michalski said. “Our team is from pretty far and wide; I think we have 16 states represented on our team. So for being a state school it’s a pretty big roster from all over the country.”

Michalski mentioned that parents had traveled from places as far as Florida, Arizona and Georgia to support the team.

“I think my expectation is the same every meet, every year, every time they race is that they give all that they have at the moment,” Michalshki said. “My expectation for every meet is that they give their all and give me everything they have, and not only me but their teammates.”

Michalski also mentioned the influence the freshmen had on the team atmosphere.

“Our freshmen have brought so much excitement to this team that it’s unbelievable and really just amazing to watch and amazing to be a part of,” Michalski said.